The present invention resides in the art of film packages where it is known to house a stack of sheets of imaging media or film between stiffener members that are connected together and enclosed in an outer package such as an envelope.
A wide variety of packaging arrangements have been proposed in the prior art for protecting, storing, shipping, and dispensing thin film materials. In the film imaging art, it is desirable to provide protection for a stack of film units which must be shipped and stored without becoming damaged. Exemplary of known prior art packages of the foregoing type are described in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,869,368; 4,915,229; 5,064,070; and Statutory Invention Reg. H1201.
Despite the variety of known packages of the above type, there exists a need for one which is easy to open and install in a proper orientation in a machine therefor, whereby the film can be easily and reliably fed to a printing station. There is also a need for a package of the above type which protects the film sheets from damage during package handling and against relative movement prior to use, and one which indicates whether the package has been properly disassembled and whether all the film sheets have been used. It is also desired to have a novel package that will indicate during use whether the package has been properly dissassembled and whether all the film sheets have been used. It is also desired to provide a film package that will achieve the above objects and yet may be commercially produced at relatively low cost without sacrificing protection of the film sheets.